Hero's Choice
by Pseudonym Of A Shit Writer
Summary: Shirou Emiya only had one path. He just needs to find a way to walk it.
1. Chapter 1

"Damn! You're going to regret hitting me." the man slowly unsheathed a blade

"Gotcha punk!" one of the thugs grabbed my arm, twisting it behind my back. It hurt, it hurt so much I could barely think but I couldn't take my eyes off the knife. The moonlight glinted cruelly off the sharp edge, my knees started shaking.

I can't believe I never realized something so simple; knives are fucking scary

The world seemed to slow down, I took in every detail of the instrument, the blade was long and thin with a stocky wooden handle. This was a weapon. It was designed to hurt and kill without regard for right or wrong. My mouth dried up, I couldn't breathe. I tried to pull free but he just twisted my arm farther. My eyes met the knife wielders, his eyes were dark and cloudy with rage.

'Oh, man what the hell am I going to do!' the guy behind me wrenched my arm, painfully twisting as the knife slowly approached. He got three steps before Miu's foot slammed into his face

"Aghh"

The pressure on my arm was released.

The thug grabbing me was sent flying through the air replaced by a long blond braid. What the hell? My eyes followed the long braid, but it was already in motion cracking like a whip. The girl seemed to fly through the night closing in on the man to my right. He throw a hasty punch out. She seemed to flow around his fist, her elbow slammed into his face and he went down spitting up teeth. I couldn't even move and the girl I rushed to save had taken apart two grown men and the third one was being riddled with punches. I couldn't' even move and a girl my age was taking out gangsters left and right and the only thing I could do was watch, and I could barely do that. She was so fast I could hardly keep up. I was enamored, the beautiful girl seemed to float through the sky weightless while other times she dived on them like a hawk. I didn't even notice him creeping up behind me.

"Hold it right there girly!" A cold edge pressed under my chin. The first guy, the one I punched in the face. He was holding the knife to my throat, I couldn't swallow. I started sweating. What the hell was I going to do? The girl I tried to save simply scowled, raised her fists and inched forward.

"Take another step! I dare you, I'll cut this prick's throat open I swear!" he drew the knife closer. Was Miu really going to gamble with my life? Didn't I have any say in this? He could kill me right now and there was nothing I could do about it. The only thing between life and death was a slim piece of metal and a teenage girl….. I'm so fucked

"Hey! That's enough!" Someone yelled from down the road, I tried to turn but the goon pulled me closer

"Knock it off right now or I'm telling Raiga you're threatening kids again." The newcomer yelled

"How the hell do you know the boss!?" The goon took a step back. "Shit, are you the guy we're supposed to be picking up?" He said keeping his eyes looked on Miu

"Yes I'm Emiya, now let him go " He said flatly.

"Christ, I thought my day couldn't get worse" he sheathed his blade pushing me down with his free hand. I kissed the pavement, the cool concrete pressed into my face, and I breathed a sigh of relief."Take your boy toy and get out of here, I'm letting you off with a warning"

Miu didn't lower her fists "I'm not letting you get away that easy!" She glared, moving faster then before she closed in. He jerked back barely dodging her fist, the new guy rushed in leaping in front of the goon, catching her fist on his forearm.

"Hey! Stop! Look, I'm sorry for what he did but there doesn't have to be any more violence today. Let's just all go home, you never have to see him again alright?" the new guy offered

She considered it carefully never letting her guard down for a moment. "Hmph, fine but don't think for a second I'll forgive what he's done," She said backing away

The newcomer sighed, a small smile on his face. "Thank you.". He turned to the thug. "Can you get the car ready without starting any fights this time?"

"Whatever, kids these days got no respect" he muttered walking off

The new guy, Emiya, walked over to the man who held me down and started dragging him towards the curb. I didn't understand till he packed the unconscious man into the backseat.

Miu jogged over to me "Kenichi! Are you alright" She pulled me to my feet. She quickly checked over me before sighing in relief. "Thank you for helping me" She smiled

"I..t It was nothing" of course it was nothing, I didn't do anything. I just made it worse. I got so caught up watching Miu I didn't even notice the guy sneaking up on me. I grimaced

The strange man grunted as he pulled the last of the thugs into the car and slammed the door closed, it sped off shortly after. "Who was that guy?"

She frowned, pursing her lips, I followed her eyes to her knuckles a small bruise forming. Forget knives, girls are scary

* * *

Bam!

My vision blurred, I tasted copper as I hit the mat

"What the hell do you think you're doing Shirahama!"

He grabbed my gi and lifted me off the ground.

Smack!

Just like before I didn't even see his fist as he punched me. I clutched my stomach , trying to ignore the pain

"I told you not to touch the bags! you stupid punk. I hate people like you." He pulled me closer, "People who join karate club for fun make sick" he spit, looking more pissed by the second

"I didn't' join to have fun!. I joined so I can get stronger!' I won't be weak anymore. I won't rely on other people to protect me

"Ha!, Listen up shit head, karate is for the strong to get stronger not for weaklings like you to mess around." He throwing me down "If you have any self-respect you'll quit the club today."

I picked myself up and stared him in the eyes. "So, as long as I'm strong it's fine if I stay." I just need to prove myself, then I can start getting stronger.

He laughed again "Weak and stupid what a combo, sure if you beat me in a match you can stay but when you lose you quit and never show your face around here again punk. A week from today, same time, the same place. I'll see you then" he smiled and swaggered off.

He picked up the seventy-pound dumbbells easily curling them. He turned to me and gave me a vicious smile.

Crap.

I'm so screwed, I can't just back out but if I don't Daimonji is gonna kill me. Crap think Kenichi think, maybe I have a book that-

"Hey, weak knees~"

Oh great, not only am I going to get killed I get to deal with the alien, I sped up trying to get away from him

"I wouldn't ignore this if I were in your size sixes" he called out as I walked away

"How the hell do you know my shoe size!" I demand stomping over to him

"Oh you'd be surprised at what info is just lying around but I'm here for more than just shoes. He smiled nastily

"I'm sure you've heard but in case your ears are as weak as the rest of you, we have two more transfer students. A girl and a boy, Tohsaka Rin and Emiya Shirou. Weird pair, almost no information on their transcripts." He flicked through his PDA.

Wait, I know that name

"Hold on did you say Emiya Shirou? Tall, red hair, yellow eyes?

"That's the one, looks like you might be good for something after all Shirahama. You tell me what you know about them and I'll tell you about Daminji."

Nijama was always scheming, he was a jerk but he sucked up to the bullies so no one could do anything about it. He might tell me something helpful about Daimonji , or he'll tell me something useless. Not a lot to lose either way I guess

"Whatever, look that Emiya guy? He's bad news alright, I met him the other day and he was ordering around some Yakuza thugs." I warned him

He started cackling "aha ha ha! I know something was off about him! No one is that nice and not hiding something. Don't worry weak knees, I'll have the Yakuza prince wrapped around my finger within a week" He took out his PDA and started rapidly typing. "Know anything about that other one? Tohsaka?" I shook my head

"Didn't think you would, a girl as hot as she is wouldn't even notice you exist much less talk to you keke" he laughed,

"And she'll care about an alien like you?"

"You little punk! Listen up Weak knees, your stats are all F class. You know what that means?" He sneered. "No? It means I can do this!" He pulled my cheeks.

"Oww, stupid alien" I slapped his hand away

"And you can't do anything about it. The sooner you learn your place the better it'll be for you. Still, a promise is a promise, I suppose I should tell you something about Daimonji", he flicked his PDA scrolling through the profiles finally landing on Daimonji's. " Ahh here we go; He's a brute, he beats down everyone who gets on his nerves. It's so bad in middle school he sent two kids to the hospital for annoying him, shook them up so bad they moved schools." He pushed a button on the side powering down the device and pocketing it "In case you're having trouble understanding what this means let me put it in words you can understand; you're dead meat." He rested his hand on my shoulder "But I have some good news too"

Finally

"If the hospital bill is over one hundred dollars it's tax-free!" he cackled and walked off

Shit.

* * *

So that's what's going on" Miu said, "You know he's wrong about Karate."

"Huh?" I looked up from my desk

"I know a little and my master always said Karate was created to let the little guy win against the big guy."

I put my head back on the desk, maybe I can distract him with fortune cookie wisdom

"So what are you going to do now?" She said leaning on a desk

"What does it matter? I'm just going to get murdered. Have you seen that guy? He's huge. He's going to pop my head like a grape." my head fell on the desk. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll trip in my blood after he kills me.

"Look, Kenichi, strength isn't power. You need to understand that" She walked off, putting her hand on an open window "But if you fight him the way you are now you'll definitely lose if you can't even imagine beating him you're better off running away," She said as she leaped out

"What the hell, we're on the second floor!" I rushed to the window just in time to see her hopping a fence across the street. What's with all the crazy people lately.

"Ding Ding~" the last bell, the freedom cry of students everywhere, the sweet relief of getting out of the nut house, my relief was short lived when the thought of Daimonji being one day closer to destroying me filled my head.

Unlike the crazies I decided to use the front door as I started walking home. Now, what? I stared at the sky. I could give up, maybe if I scrap my head on the ground and quit the club he won't kill me. Maybe I can beg the club president? No, he wants Daimonji in the club way more than he wants me. I could just not show up, never show my face, hide from the members and hope they forget about me. Yea, that'll work I bet they'll have a laugh and forget all about me.

When did I become such a coward? No, I never became a coward, I've been a coward for as long as I can remember. The second that guy looked at me I froze up, Miu didn't even flinch when the guy pulled a knife.

I took a deep breath, I'm going to do it. I won't let this be like every other time! I started running, I kept running until I was red in the face, then ran faster. I won't be weak knees Kenichi anymore! I sprinted through the front door, blowing past my sister. I slammed the door to my room closed. I collapsed in a chair raggedly breathing.

A few minutes later I stood, tall and proud. I gazed upon my secret weapon. Slowly pulling it from its place on the bookshelf. Taking in every facet of its cover. The title emblazoned on the cover, I spoke reverence in my voice

"John Cena's guide to getting stronger while having fun" with this maybe I can win after all

* * *

"Wow, Emiya! That's amazing. I can't believe I've never seen you at a competition."

"I've just been too busy I guess." He shrugged nocking another arrow. He aimed at the target, the outcome was certain. It will hit, it was not vanity. There was no pride in his form or joy in his success. No matter how many times he fired, the arrows would always land where he designated it. Why would something as simple as breathing make anyone happy? He released the arrow and I looked down at my watch.

six seconds to draw, nock, aim, and fire twice. I walked down range pulling the arrows from the plastic target. Shinji was always disgusted with my form.

"Emiya, how are you doing this?" She said inspecting the two arrows. Fingering the small notch where the second arrow dug into the first one

"You can't just walk off the street pick up a bow and shoot an arrow with another arrow without aiming." she sighed placing the arrows on the ground. "I guess this is the difference between talent and practice." she took her phone out taping out a short message

I gave her a friendly smile "I was part of the archery club back at my old school so I'm not a complete amateur." I probably shouldn't mention I was only in it for six months. I drew two more arrows from the box and placed them inside my quiver.

He took aim. The outcome was assured before he picked up the bow. The only thing that mattered was how he got there. draw nock, fire, draw nock fire.

I looked down at my watch. three seconds to repeat with His style what my own did with six. That's three seconds saved, three potential lives saved and all I had to do was copy Archer.

"That's a nasty face for such a good shot," the captain said as she lazily approached "Are you bullying the new guy, Shima?" she teased ever present smirk plastered on her face. She was easy going and never really took her duties seriously, as long as she could practice in peace it didn't really matter to her what people did and as a result, the club was filled with people who wanted a place to goof off.

"Wah, no way. I'm just checking out the new guy's skills. They're crazy, I don't think I've seen him miss all day!"

"Is that so?" The captains smirk expanded into a smile. "it's been awhile since I've had any competition around here."

"I'm right here you know," I said lamely putting my bow back on the rack. I wonder who supplied the club, the bows here were all new carbon fiber bodies and Spectra strings. Expensive but built to last, made the single wooden bow stick out even more.

"Oh, don't worry, we're just teasing you. I look forward to competing with you." She nodded at me. I doubt I'd stay long enough to compete with her. I just needed a place to test His skills against mine. I tried practicing in the apartment Raiga was lending me but Rin absolutely refused to patch any more holes in the wall so I had to find a new one.

Beep beep

I glanced at my watch "Damn, is it that late? Thank you for showing me around but I have to get going." I grabbed my coat hurrying out the door.

"What an odd guy. What do you think Captain?"

The Captain pulled the wooden bow and a dozen arrows from the rack.

"He's interesting. At the very least he's a good reminder not to laze around, my dreams a long way off if people like him are around." She nocked an arrow

"You're so serious captain Sako, it's not like you." She said taking her phone out

"Only about the things that matter" She felt the arrow and the target become one, it wasn't a matter of aim anymore just timing. She let go, her arrow whistled through the air slamming into the bullseye.

"Shirou…. You're late." Those words were the only sound in the dark house. This was getting dangerous.

"Sorry, I got caught up at the range." He walked slowly through the door feeling around for the light switch. If I can get the lights on maybe I can avoid whatever trap she set up, wait if I avoid it will that just piss her off more? Should I just take the hits? No, it's too soon to resort to that.

"So your little toy bow is more important than your word." the voice came from everywhere and nowhere. "It's not like that, I promise." We wouldn't even be having this problem if she let me practice in the living room again

"Just like you promised to be home at six." She's got me there. I'm going to have to pull out the big guns

"If you kill me, I can't cook dinner." I declared giving up my search for the lights

"Hmm," the voice considered my plea "...Fine" The lights flashed on momentarily blinding me "But you better not be late again." Rin pouted crossing her arms "I can't believe you, skipping magus practice for some silly game."

"It's not a game Rin, I'm practicing" I sighed in relief. I was safe for now, but I wasn't out of the lion's den yet

"I don't see why you bother, it's not like you ever miss." She uncrossed her arms and sat down on the couch, skipping through a magazine. "By the way, Fujimura Raiga stopped by, he wanted to thank you for telling him about that underling, said that he's been appropriately chastised. He even offered a couple tickets to a sumo wrestling match. You know some weird guys Shirou but I can't complain about the free apartment" It took Rin two days to find out I had gotten a rent-free apartment, it took her one to find out where and it only took her half a day to move in all her stuff.

I walked into the kitchen, Riaga made sure I had a top of the line kitchen and a fully stocked fridge. He said it was so I would feel more at home but I had a feeling he just wanted to make sure I could keep cooking for his daughter. I didn't mind, at the very least it would keep Taiga out of trouble. She was way too excitable for a teacher. I should give her a call, She hasn't' stopped by recently. Probably stuck in meeting about my old school. I should make her something nice to pick her spirits up.

I absent-mindedly put on my apron and considered my options. Curry? Nah, I'll save that for leftovers day. Maybe something simple? I could grill some chicken, Nah I don't have any lemon. Hamburger steaks? I should use the meat sooner rather than later anyway.

I pulled it out and lost myself in preparing the meal

* * *

Beep Beep Beep Beep~

The worst part of the day, I slammed the snooze button the clock quieting down instantly. I yawned and crawled out of the futon then turned off the alarm, stretching lightly. Time to get going, I throw on some running clothes and crept out of the house. I had to be quiet, Rin was a lot of things morning person was not one of the. I'm pretty sure she's still upset at me for waking her up the first time.

A light jog, followed by pushups squats and sit ups. The only way to start the day, I closed the door behind me. Breathing in the cool air as I started out from the house. I turned my brain off and just focused on putting one foot in front of the other. This routes getting kinda boring, maybe I should get a new one. I could run by the river, it'll give me something nice to look at when the sun came up.

"Kou hoo… High Hoo….Kou Hoo….High Hoo"

I was pulled from my musing by those odd words. "Kou Hoo...High Hoo" There it was again, I turned the corner. Wait it's that kid Raiga's thug was attacking. What's he doing? His left foot slid out pivoting and swinging his body with the words. Weird kid, glad to see he's okay after getting roughed up. He just kept stepping and pivoting, slowing sliding down the street. He was so focused on his movements he didn't even notice me till I passed him.

"Agh!" he leaped back, abandoning his weird shuffle in favor of hiding behind a garbage can. He moved quickly when he wasn't dancing. Wonder why he hid though. Still, I didn't have time for this. I had to get back and cook breakfast, Rin's still a little pissed about me skipping magus training last night best way to calm the beast is a good breakfast. I picked up the pace.

What the hell is this guy doing? I started at my textbook, trying to ignore the pointy ears bobbing up and down outside the window. Wait, was this the guy my classmates tried to warn me about?

"Kekeke"

Was that a cackle? He peeked up from behind the wall. What's with this guy? I can't focus if he just keeps staring at me. It wasn't the first time I noticed him, hanging around me. Maybe he's just shy? The other guys said he greets every new student this way so he's probably just nervous. Hmmm, I should go talk to him. Not like I'm paying attention to the lesson anyway, and the fresh air well do some good.

"Excuse me. May I use the restroom?"

"Sure"

I walked into the hallway slid open the window and quietly vaulted outside. I walked silently to the corner peeking around to see if he was still there. Nijiama had taken out a phone and was tapping away, a serious look on his face. I knelt down under the window and slowly made my way to where the boy was hidden.

"Hey" I whispered to him

"Aghhh!" He shot straight up, I grabbed his shirt and pulled hard sending him tumbling to the ground. I leaped on top of him covering his mouth and dragged him into the shadow of the building. I kept quiet as possible the teacher was bound to stick his head out and look for the cause of the noise.

"Hey, come on, I'm not supposed to be out here. I'm going to let go now, promise not to yell again?." I whispered into his pointy ear. He answered with a frantic nod, satisfied I let him go

"Great Nijama barrel roll escape!" He yelled and started rapidly rolling away, despite his odd way of doing it he moved at a breakneck pace. Honestly, if it wasn't so weird I'd be impressed. I watching him spin end over end as he disappeared out of view. I'm beginning to think everyone around here was crazy. First, we have kids dancing down the street at six in the morning and now this? Maybe weird is normal at this school? Does that make me the weird one? Hmm, whatever I should probably get back to class.

* * *

 **Auther's Note**

Thank you for taking the time to read this story. I urge everyone to leave a review, even if it's something simple such as a suggestion for what diction you would enjoy seeing this story progress, a review featuring my many technical errors, pointing out that I fucked up people's names several times(I hope this is no longer the case but I missed it the first time so it's worth mentioning) or really anything you believe is worth mentioning. I do this to improve myself so feel free to be as harsh as you like.

If this edit sets off an alert sorry about that, a reviewer informed me that the site is eating my scene brakes and I needed to fix it.


	2. Chapter 2

The blade moves through the air like light. It can not be seen, it is in one place and then another. The blade isn't fast, but you can't track it, it seems to flicker in and out of existence. You can tell it's moving but following those movement is not possible, it seems to just blend in the background of reality . His strikes bend and arc seeming to reach around the target, every strike from a different angle but always landing in a perfect line on the target. This is a technique that can not be understood even by the welder.

He rested, the blade slowly dissolving in motes of light. Leting my circuits keep me warm from the cold night, I watched my breath puff into existence, before deciding to get back to work. I picked up a branch from the cut up tree. "Trace On" I whispered the words quietly into the night, filling the branch with the mana to strength the concept of "Sword" the mana trickled through the pathways of my body.. I examined the branch, it wasn't quite the right size but it would have to do. I held the sword loosely at my side trying to copy what I remembered from the temple guardian. It was wrong, it wasn't even close to the original. I struck the tree, trying to feel what I'd done moments before, but without his blade to guide me, I was stuck using my own skill and compared to the heroes of legend I was a child.

"These hands will never hold anything" Those were the words he lived his life by, but I won't follow His path. Well, that's the plan at least, so far every hero's skill has disappeared with the weapon. No, it's more accurate to say I never had their skill. The weapons were just dragging me along for the ride.

The glowing gem floating in the middle of the field began to flicker

Almost out of time, Rin put her foot down on sword training in the house after I cut the couch in half so I was stuck hiking to the middle of nowhere to practice. The gem was an added protection, it set up a bounded field that alerted me to anyone approaching. She tried teaching me how to set it up on my own but that went as well as all my sword training, that is to say terribly. Maybe it was all those years of doing magic the wrong way but whenever I tried doing something other than projection it failed, exploded or both. That's not to say there wasn't any progress but ten percent chance to not burn down the forest were odds I wasn't willing to risk. Luckily, Rin managed to rig up a gem to set up the field for me, it wasn't a permanent solution only lasting as long as Rin was willing to supply me with gems, but it was better than nothing. I watched the gem disintegrated as the spell consumed the container I walked over and kicked some dirt on the shattered pieces to help cover it up then snapped my impromptu sword over my knee, I throw half into the nearby bushes and decided to use the other half as a walking stick. I would have to dump it before I left the woods but there was no harm keeping it for now. I stifled a yawn and checked the time.

"02:21"

Later then I thought, hope the bus is still running. I throw the other half of the branch into a tree and started jogging. Why can't I retain anything from tracing? It's all stored in the Bladeworks so why can't I bring it out? When I'm holding the blade, its simple. I don't even have to think about it but when the blade faded so did the skills. Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. I'm trying to copy a master's skills without knowing the basics. If I just trace the shape without the materials or history, the blade will fall apart. Their skills are the same way, just like I need to get the materials before I can fill in the shape. I need to learn the basics before I can copy the masters. I need to shape my body into a proper vessel for the skills to occupy. Well, saying that is one thing but I have no idea how that's supposed to work. It's not as simple as shaping mana into a frame.

"Argh, You bastard!"

My legs were in motion before my brain understood what was happening. I closed in on the source of the sound, my legs glowing with reinforcement. Four men in total, two on the ground, one knocked out, one trying to stand the two standing guys were kicking the struggling one. They didn't even hear me before I tackled the closer one mid kick. We went tumbling down knocking the other guy over as we hit the ground. I grabbed his collar and pulled his head up ignoring the look of shock on his face as I slammed it into the concrete.

"What the hell!" The one I didn't tackle was on his feet before I had a chance to get off his buddy, I ducked his kick and grabbed his pant leg pulling him off balance. I scrambled to my feet and tackled him as he was standing up. He was ready for it and threw a knee into my stomach as I mounted him. I ignored the pain and slammed my fist into his face, feeling the crunch of his nose reverberate up my arm. I brought my fist down like a hammer over and over again pounding the fight out of him. He tried warding me off, he stuck a hand in my face to block my sight and clawed at my eyes. it wouldn't work, I was long past the point where I needed eyes to keep hitting him. I used my free arm to pry his hand out of the way and dropped my fist into his bloody face. His head hit the concrete and I heard a crack. He stopped struggling. I checked his pulse and signed in relief. He wouldn't be picking any fights for a while but he'd live.

"Hey" A voice from behind. I stood, turning to face the owner. His face was covered in bruises, clutching his ribs, and spitting blood. He'd feel it in the morning "I don't know why you helped me but thanks." He spit out more blood, I hope this guy has health insurance

"It was no problem. Why are these guys after you anyway?" I turned back to the thug searching him for a phone

he scowled "Didn't leave town fast enough, Ragnarok blacklisted me after I lost a fight." the parts of his face not covered in bruise did it's best to scowl, "Fucker used a dirty move and now I have to pack up and leave. fuckin bullshit" he muttered and he pulled a phone from his pocket "And I missed the train, fantastic"

"I can protect. You don't have to move. I know a place you can stay while I sort it all out" I hope Rin doesn't mind, I might be able convince her to let him stay for a few days. Shouldn't take much longer than that, bullies were easy enough to deal with after all. Just show you can hurt them more then they can hurt you and they'll leave you alone. It wasn't perfect but nothing was

He gave me an incredulous look "Against, Ragnarock? Ha, funny joke. They've got this whole town on lockdown, even if you followed me everywhere I went they'd just keep throwing scumbags at you till you went down." He sighed, "I appreciate what you did for me but I'd be careful if I were you, these guys don't mess around and after that stunt, they're going to be looking for blood"

I pulled a phone from the bleeding thug's pocket.

"Anyway umm-"

"Emiya Shirou"

"Anyway Emiya, I've got to get going. Good luck, you're going to need it" he winced and started limping away.

In town for a week and already pissed off the biggest gang around. Well, that's fine, they pissed me off too. I wasn't going to let them terrorize people and chase people out of town. This is only the beginning. Still, I needed to get these guys off the street. I used the thug's phone to dial an ambulance

"I found three unconscious kids, they look really beat up. I think they hit their heads pretty hard. I'm in the middle of spruce street. You can't miss them." I tossed the phone on the thug's body without hanging up.

I looked around. I was standing on a narrow road with a small stream running parallel. The other side had lots of foliage. Not a bad place to wait around till the ambulance arrived. I waded through the water and sat in the bushes then glanced at my phone

"3:46 AM" It was going to be a long night. The ambulance arrived twenty minutes, took ten minutes to pack them up. It took me another thirty minutes to trudged to my apartment and climb out of my wet clothes. I collapsed on my bed, and let blissful sleep take me.

* * *

"Shirou wake up you're going to be late!"

Sorry, I don't understand you try again later. Maybe if I ignore her hard enough she won't exist. That's how magic works right? Believe it hard enough and it happens? Well I refuse to believe in the existence Tohsaka Rin.

"Are you ignoring me Emiya!" She tore away the blanket

"I'm trying but you're not making it very easy" Wasn't that cold anyway, who needs blankets.

"I see how it is. Are you feeling sick Emiya?" I could imagine her smile, it wasn't a happy one.

"Yes, I'm deathly ill and only going directly back to sleep will save me" The last half was true-ish.

"Oh, I'm soooo sorry, here I'll go get you some water to help bring down the fever." she was probably being sarcastic but I couldn't bring myself to care. I stood on the edge of blissful sleep and wakefulness, it wasn't a bad feeling especially given my long night.

Slosh slosh~

Wasn't that sound? Nah, too tired it'll be fine.

"Alright, Shirou this should help you feel much better" I gasped and shivered as the ice water smothered my chance at getting anymore sleep, I used my newfound energy to explode out of the now soaking wet bed.

"What the hell!" I demanded

"Don't get snippy with me! I'm not one making both of us late because he won't get out of bed!" She shot back

"That doesn't mean you couldn't be more gentle"

"I tried nudging you! You just waved me off! Stop arguing you're just going to make us later!" She stomped her foot

I sighed, "Yea, sorry." couldn't she be wrong for once? Was it a girl thing? Or was constant rightnes a Toshkaka original skill.

"Jeez, don't apologize just hurry up" She huffed and crossed her arms.

"You can start without me, I'll catch up" She nodded and walked out of my room.

I glacned at my soaked bed and shrugged, I'd probably be sleeping on the couch until I could air dry it.

* * *

I yawned and put my head down. I usually brought my lunch but thanks to my late night I didn't even have time to make a sandwich. The cafeteria's food wasn't terrible, it wasn't even bad but it didn't taste nearly as good as sleep felt right now.

"Late night?" A hand rested on my shoulder

I looked up groggily checking who was talking to me, Shibasaki smiled at me and pulled a chair up to my desk.

"You have no idea" I sat up and greeted him. Shibasaki was a nice guy, made friends with just about everyone, even offered to show me around on my first day. He ripped open a bag of chips and started snacking.

"May I sit with you?" I turned and nodded at the newcomer, The class president, and Shibasaki's best friend. If you found one the other was bound to be close by, which made it all the weirder how they were almost polar opposites. Tomori adjusted his glasses and popped the lid off his lunch box.

"Hey, Takuma did you meet the new girl yet?" Tomari looked up, from his sandwich.

"I have not had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Tohsaka, no." He pulled a napkin out and wiped his face.

"Man, you're missing out She's not exactly stacked but she's got a figure to die for, how about you Eimiya? You seen her yet?"

"Don't talk about her like that" I scowled slightly but quickly schooled my face "But No, I've never met Rin " I laid the school was strict on dating and I doubt they'd be much fonder of us living together without supervision either, on top of that Rin refused to drop her honor student persona so I was stuck pretending not to know her.

Shibasaki lazy smile turned into a shit eating grin "You'd never lie to your buddy would you Emiya?"

I flinched, " what do you mean? I haven't lied about anything"

"You must be magic then" this is bad. Did he see me practicing last night? How did he get around Rin's field? Is he a magus as well?

"Because I don't remember ever mention her first name and using her first name without even meeting the girl? That's pretty bold. Oh and don't think I didn't notice your face when I was talking about her body" He leaned over "Come, on don't worry about the stick in the mud over there. You can dish, it's fine we're all friends here after all"

"You shouldn't harass him, Takuya. Emiya is entitled to his secrets, as much as you and I are." Thank you Tomari, I'll never think bad about people with glasses again. "Though I must admit, I am curious about your relationship with Tohsaka." Stupid glasses face

"I bet you two are a bit closer then friends~, aren't you Emiya" I flushed and pulled on my collar it suddenly got much hotter in here.

"Aha! I know it" He smirked

"It's not like that, I just really like the name Rin is all" Crap this is bad, she's going to kill me if people find out we're dating "Honestly guys, there's no juicy gossip you're just imagining things," The door to the classroom slammed open

A big guy walked in. He wasn't wearing the uniform but he definitely wasn't a teacher. The room quieted down instantly. "Ragnarok is looking for Kenichi Shirahama. If you know where he is speak up now." No one said anything, even the ever talkative Shibasaki suddenly found his lap a lot more interesting.

"No one's got anything to say?" He stalked around the room, "How bout you? You seen him?" He grabbed one of my classmates by the lapel hoisting him up

"No! I've never even heard of the guy!"

"Don't lie to me!" He shook him.

I moved to stand but Shibasaki grabbed my arm

"Just let it go, there's nothing we can do" I pulled free. He was wrong, at the very least I can save the people right in front of me

"Put him down and this doesn't have to end in violence." He was an asshole but that didn't mean I wanted to hurt him.

"The fuck you say," He dropped the new guy and turned to face me. His nostrils flared and he bared his teeth.

"I said if you walk out now, no one has to get hurt."

"Kid do you know who you're messing with?" He walked over to me

"Do you know how little I care" That was his last straw. he threw the first punch, it was slow and wide, aimed squarely at my jaw. Maybe, it was Archer's memories or just my own experience with the grail war but it looked more pathetic than scary. I stepped into his range the fist missed its' target by a mile as my forehead slammed into the bridge of his nose. He went down bleeding. I waited for a second watching if he would get up. I wasn't expecting a lot from him but this guy was way too weak. It was better this way I guess, at least no one had to get seriously injured. I glanced at the clock on the wall. I could carry this guy to the nurse's office and be back before the bell rang I grabbed his arms and pulled him onto my back.

"Thank you Emiya" I turned to face the voice. it was Hisamatsu another of my classmates. Didn't really talk with him much but he seemed like a nice guy.

"It wasn't a problem" I hope they don't go after him for this but he had a forgettable enough face I wasn't too worried.

"I mean, you didn't have to do that, and now they're going to go after you and -"

I interrupted this rambling "It's fine. I'm not just going to sit back and let some thugs attack people. Doesn't matter who their friends are." The guy on my back groaned "I've gotta get this guy to the nurse's office can someone cover for me if the teacher comes back

"Yea, I got you" I thanked Shibasaki and hurried into the halls.

* * *

How was I going to deal with Ragnarok? Archer's memories told me that if you took out the leaders of an organization like this, they would usually collapse into infighting.I should publicly kill the leaders and burn their headquarters so that they wouldn't be able to rally around a central person or place. Well, the first part was okay, but I'd need to workshop the second part. I need to find the leaders and take them out. Archer's memories provided me with some insight on how to kill them but I quickly pushed it out of my head. I wasn't going to be like him. I would stop Ragnarok and I'd make sure they would be breathing at the end of it.

It wasn't always easy telling his memories from mine. Sometimes, I'd know how to do something I never learned, or think of plans I wouldn't have considered before. It was as much a hindrance as it was helpful. Sure, it was great knowing how to take apart and clean a Heckler & Koch HK416 without ever touching a gun, but in fights, it turned into a liability. When Archer fought he didn't leave anything to chance. No move was too dirty, no trick too underhand. He was brutally efficient about tearing his opponent apart, he didn't care about style or honor. He never fought to win, he fought to kill as fast as possible. He didn't see them as humans, he saw them as a target to be eliminated for the greater good. If I wasn't careful I would do the same thing.

"Emiya? I know it was an incredible shot but are you just going to stare at it all day?" Shiba's voice snapped me out of my thoughts

"Oh, sorry. I'm just out of it today. Late night." I shrugged and walked down the range to retrieve the arrows I didn't remember firing. Shiba walked with me admiring the shot.

"Doesn't even have to pay attention to hit a bullseye" She shook her head. I'd never missed a shot even before I got a couple decades worth of extra practice, now it was second nature.

"So Emiya what were you doing up late anyway?" She quested

"Uhm, you know this and that."

"This and that" She gave me a sly grin, "you know I heard that some Ragnarok guys got pretty badly beat up last night. No one knows who did it. Happened in the dead of night and the only thing they can remember is red hair"

I carefully counted out five more arrows. "Oh yea, wonder who did it"

"It's funny, I heard you knocked out a Ragnarok member who was harassing your classmate"

"You know you shouldn't believe everything you hear" I shouldn't underestimate the power of a teenage girl constantly on her cell phone. Well, I guess telling her the truth shouldn't be a huge issue. The rumor will spread faster thanks to her and that'll force Ragnarok to come after me sooner so they don't lose face. Thank you, Archer, you may have been a prick after death but your life is serving me well.

"Well, in this case, you should believe what they say. I'm not really the kind of person who can stand by and watch when he sees bullies and from what I've seen Ragnarok is nothing but a group of them." I walked over to range

She giggled "wow Emiya it's like you're a real life superhero."

A couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. "Yea, something like that"

* * *

I was walking home three days later when I got a message from Ragnarok. "We've taken Tohsaka Rin hostage. Come to the Matsue Lark if you care about her life. Love, the fourth fist of Ragnarok; Loki" My mind went blank. I stared at my phone. How did they get my number? No that wasn't important, Rin was in danger. Just like with Archer, they took her to draw me in. This was a trap, I didn't even need Archer's memories to know it was a trap. I dropped my bag and started running. I reinforced my legs mid-step, I sprinted past people, bikes, and cars. I covered a mile of distance in less than two minutes. Even if it was a trap as long as I beat them down fast enough they wouldn't be able to hurt her. I stopped in front the door to catch my breath, before pushing the door open.

"Welcome to the Lark?" A girl in a pink waitress uniform greeted me

"Ugh hi, I'm here to meet a guy. I think" I scanned the restaurant looking for him, only to realize I had no idea what this guy looked like or if he was even a guy at all.

"Over here" a man in a trench coat called me over. I guess he was a guy, he was a guy who took Rin. I walked over and sat down in the booth across from him. He didn't bother looking up from the rubric cube he was fiddling with.

"I'm sure you know this already but I'm Loki, the fourth fist." He twisted the cube

"Where's Rin," I demanded.

"Straight to business then. She's safe for now, and you should be more worried about yourself." He put the cube down, "I'm going to explain to you what happens next. You're going to go down to the docks, my men are going to pack you into a create and load you onto a ship. You'll be sent somewhere, and you'll never be heard from again. You have until midnight before bad things start to happen to your little girlfriend." He picked his toy back up.

"What about Rin?" as long as they had her my hands were tied.

"Hmm, oh right. We'll hold onto her for a little while." He chuckled to himself. "If she doesn't fight back she won't' be harmed. Can't promise anything otherwise n-" My reinforced arm tore through the table like it didn't exist. He tried to ward my arm off but it was useless. I threw him across the dinner and watched him crash through a chair. It was unfortunate but no way Rin wouldn't fight back.

I pushed the remnants of the table off me and stepped out of the booth. I wasn't the only one either, every single person in the restaurant stood up with me and every single one of them pulled out a weapon. A various assortment of stick, rods and pipes. The waitress even pulled out nunchucks. I counted twenty. This wasn't great, the longer I took the greater chance of Rin getting hurt. No way to end this quickly either, unless... If I killed one of them fast enough the others would falter. No, I didn't need to go that far, not yet. Two of them rushed me from the side, I turned swinging my fist with me plowing through the nearest one's hasty guard, and slamming him into the man beside him. That was the signal, the rest of them started moving as well. One of them came at me with a club. I ducked out of the way and directly into the path of a metal pipe. It knocked me off balance but the magic filling my body made my skull harder than the cheap iron. I lunged for him knocking the dented pipe out of his hands, we both fell to the floor. I slammed my fist into his face hard enough to leave an indent of my fist. I felt arms wrap around my neck in an attempt to strangle me I throw him off with a snarl, he went flying through the wooden divider. Something solid broke against my arm. I turned and stared down the the thug with the broken cane.

"What the hell!"

"This guy's not human!"

The gang started backing away at my display of durability. This was my best chance of ending this quickly. "If you take your friends and get out of here now, I won't follow you. My business is with him" I pointed to Loki who was only now pulling himself from the wreckage of the table. I grabbed the dented pipe lying next to me and tore it in half. They didn't even bother grabbing their friends when they ran from the dinner. I hope one of these guy's phones survived. I walked over to Loki, who was looking more panicked by the second.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!? Don't you care about that girl?"

"I do, that's why if she gets hurt I'm coming back for you."

"Now, where is she." I picked him by the collar easily lifting him into the air. He struggled in my grip for a second before settling down. "I'm only going to ask nicely once." He paused his panicked expression morphing into a smug grin

"I left her with Thor. If you want her back you'll have to talk to him. He's in an old abandoned building running a fight club." He told me the address and I dropped him. He groaned in pain clutching his leg. Rin wasn't far. If I hurried I could make it to her before nightfall. I turned away and looked at the group of wounded thugs. Just as I was about to take off pain arched through my body. I could feel every muscle tense so hard they started to tear and I dropped like a sack of bricks. Loki chuckled

"Not so tough now, no one is after feeling my amped up taser from hell." He kicked my prone form. Every fiber of my being hurt, but that wasn't anything new. I could still move I ignored my protesting muscles and slowly stood up

"No way! That was fifteen thousand volts! You shouldn't be conscious much less standing" He kicked me in the ribs but I ignored that too. He lunged with the taser again but I was ready for it. I grabbed his hand and used my reinforced strength to break his wrist bones. The disgusting crack made me want to throw up but I didn't have time to deal with another one of his tricks. I pushed him back into the broken table. Doing my best to ignore his screams of pain. I didn't enjoy hurting people but if I didn't do at least this much they would just keep hurting people. I grabbed a phone from one of the downed thugs and called for an ambulance before bolting through the door. The cops would probably show up at my house later but once I saved Rin she could take care of it. Probably.

* * *

It was dark when I finally reached the building they were holding her. I hid in an alleyway and examined the broken building. One way in one way out, constant traffic, sometimes in groups sometimes by themselves except for one guy standing directly in front of the entrance, everyone who went in paused for a few seconds. He's a guard, but there's too many people for him to recognize everyone so probably have to be a password. Now I just needed to find a way to get the password. I could grab someone and beat it out of them. No, too loud and if they give me the wrong password I'll be walking into another ambush. No other way, I'd have to risk it.

I walked out of the ally and directly to the entrance. Trying to look as confident as possible

"Emiya right?"

I flinched "Ummm no?" sounding much less confident than I wanted to.

"No point trying to hide it. Not many other redheads in a white blood splattered shirt." I looked down and just like he said, there were smatterings of dark red on my cuffs

"My hair is dyed and I was just clumsy and cut myself when I was working in the gardening club."

He gave me a look. "you dye your eyebrows, you're in the most pansy club possible and visit fight clubs in your spare?" I was beginning to think he wasn't buying my story. "whatever just go in"

Perfect infiltration.

I walked past the guy and headed deeper into the heart of Ragnarok. A short hallway connected to a curtain separated the cool night air and the rancid smell of blood and sweat. A group of people surrounded a small pit, some of them cheering others, screaming obscenities all of them too engrossed to notice a new guy enter. I joined the crowd, trying my best to blend in. I needed to find where they were keeping her and get out. There were too many people here to fight at once. I was already low on mana, drawing this out would kill me faster than any of these guys.

"Emiya Shirou! Come out!" A deep voice cut through the noise of the crowd. The voice's owner wasn't exactly blending in. He was huge, wearing a sleeveless robe and the same gloves that Loki had. He pushed his way through the crowd stopping directly in front of me

"Heh, smaller than I thought but you'll do nicely. I heard how you roughed up Loki and his boys. Pretty bold move picking a fight with two fists in one night."

"I don't want to fight you. I just want Rin back."

"Not what I heard. I heard you were talking shit about Ragnarok after you put a couple of our boys in the hospital." He smirked "here's how this is going down; We fight in the pit if you win I'll make Loki spill the beans on your girl. When I win I'll still help you get the girl back, however" he paused " you devote your life to the glory of sumo wrestling!" his men cheered either in support of his boss or the chance to add another man to their sumo wrestling team I wasn't sure which.

I wasn't happy with it but it was either fight him in the pit or with all his men up here. I agreed with a nod of my head. We walked over to the pit and he jumped in.

"Well, what are you waiting for! Come on"

I climbed in on the opposite side. My heart was racing. I licked my lips and took a deep breath, I had to beat this guy. There was no other way to save Rin. The walls seemed taller from the bottom, they seemed to press the large man closer without him taking a single step.

I closed my eyes. "I am the bone of sword" I whispered to myself, so quietly I could barely hear it myself. These were the words that carried EMIYA through his life and they would carry me through this fight.

I opened my eyes

"those are some good eyes. You'll make a fine Sumo wrestler." he dropped into the stance his legs splayed outwards his hands on his knees. "this is a battle to submission. You can use any style of fighting you wish, no holds barred. Ready, begin!"

he charged me. I met his charge with my own magically powered charge. He moved to push me back but my feet dug into the cracked concrete and we stalled in the middle. He growled, muscles bulging with effort. Reinforced I could barely match his strength. I moved to break his grip but he pulled me forward and I landed hard against the ground, my visions blurred, I felt the rush of air and rolled out of the way just in time to his foot slamming into ground where my head used to be. I I rushed to my feet, but before i could get my hands up his fist slammed into my chest throwing me into the wall. My ears were ringing and I tasted blood, it'd felt worse. I pushed off the wall and rushed him, he hit hard but not nearly hard enough to keep me down. I dodged his am and got in close, I slammed my fist into his ribs but it seemed to sink into his fat stomach. He grunted in pain as I jumped out of the way of a heavy swip. This was a war of attrition my magic reserves versus his stamina. This was a losing battle and I know it, he hadn't spent the night sprinting around and fighting people, I didn't have the skill to even try fighting him without a boost. I only had one option, I'd have to stop fighting myself and let the instincts Archer's memories burned into me take over. I I closed my eyes and focusced on the one the one memory we had in common; the smile and the dream. "Trace on"

He opened his eyes and scanned his opponent. Thor favors the left, his heavy weight puts pressure on the joints. His right arm shoots out and grabs Thor's pulling him off balance, The big man stumbled forward to catch himself, His leg snapped out a reinforced kick knocking the knee out of its socket. Thor went down with a scream of pain. Not done yet can see it in his eyes. Thor's on his knees, he tries to grab me, keep me close so his immobility can't be used against him. A meaty hand grabs his shoulder, his own hand shoots up and grabs Thor's finger bending it against the joints painfully pulling it out of 's hand snaps back. Still has one hand left. Thor clutches at the broken finger trying to pop it back into place. His right-hand smashes into Thor's good hand, the sharp crack confirms the brake. Time to finish it. His right leg lashes out like a whip doubling Thor over as he tries to catch his breath. Thor loses his balance, catching himself with his four remaining fingers. He stomps on the hand Thor used to support himself, listening closely for the snaps and pops of the small bones. Then kicked the arm out from under him. Before Thor could fall He wrapped his arm around the targets head, his hand gripping Thor's chin. It would only take a single pull to break the man's neck.

"trace off" I took back control and looked down at the wreck of a man. I grit my teeth, this was necessary.

"Do you submit?" I asked quietly

"yes" he grunted out. I took my hand off his chin and gently pushed him to rest on his good leg. He took a few moments to catch his breath.

"You're a rough bastard you know that. A deal's a deal, Loki's in the back room. He'll tell you everything you need to know."

"Thank you." I turned away and climbed out of the pit. The gamblers surrounding the pit backed away, cowed by my blatant brutality. "where's the back room?" I asked the closest one. He silently pointed to a dark green curtain. I pushed my way through the gaggle of people, The same man I beat in the dinner sat on a stained couch. He was fiddling with a couple of wire puzzles looking none the worse for wear. If this guy took Rin it wouldn't be out of the question that he was a magus but why the hell would a mage be involved with a street gang?

He sat up putting his puzzle to the side "Hello, Emiya. You did quite a number on my buddy Thor but the past is the past. Let's focus on now. I have a proposition for yo-"

"I don't care" I interpreted him. "Tell me where Rin is or I'm going to hurt you."

He Hummed thoughtfully "to be honest I'm not really sure, I had one of my many minions stash her in a safe house. She'll be delivered to you safe and sound by tomorrow night." he leaned back on the couch

"Just like that? No hoops to jump through, just here you go, have a nice night?" I said not fully believing him

"you just tore one of the fists of Ragnarok apart and besides I think we can be helpful to one another. So let's play nice." he chuckled

"If I hear about you trying something like this on somebody else I will come back for you and I won't stop at a few broken bones" I walked out, there was nothing more I could do tonight. If Rin wasn't returned I'd starting cutting my way through their little gang person by person.

* * *

"ACK ACK" I coughed. Covering my mouth with my sleeve. I tried taking another step but my knee buckled under me and I had to catch myself on a wall. I'd used magic beyond my limits and now I was paying the price. Reinforcement wasn't a simple magic and with my low capacity, using it all night had ruptured my blood vessels and shredded my muscles. I'd live, but I'd probably have to miss school. I stumbled towards home. It wasn't far now, I fell up the steps landing face first on walkway before using the door to pull myself up, which meant I fell forward again when the door opened by itself

"Shirou! I can't believe you missed practice again….umm Shirou? What are you doing on the floor?"

I sprung up, the pain, forgotten in my joy. I embraced the young magus, her perfume filled my nose and I breathed a sigh of relief just holding her in my arms.

"ugh Shirou you reek and why are you covered in blood?"

"I'm sorry I got you caught in this" I apologized, I needed to be more careful. I can't let this happen again.

"caught up in what? Shirou start making sense right now!" She demanded

"They kidnaped you!" Did they give her some kind of memory erasing drug?

"The library?" a doubtful look crept onto her face

"What? No, Ragnarok. They called me and said if I ever wanted to see you again I'd do what they said"

"You idiot! Why didn't you just call me? How would some street gang even kidnap me anyway?" She made the you're in idiot face again. She made that one a lot "Next time, think before you run off to play hero. I know it's not your strong suit but if you keep running around like a headless chicken you're just going to get hurt."

It bugged me to admit it but, she was right. I could have avoided hurting a lot of people tonight. My legs fell out from under me and my visions started to swim, darkness creeping in around the edges. The last thing I saw that night was the worry on Rin's face

* * *

 **Author's note**

Thank you for taking the time to read this story. I urge everyone to leave a review, even if it's something simple such as a suggestion for what diction you would enjoy seeing this story progress, a review featuring my many technical errors, pointing out that I fucked up people's names several times(I hope this is no longer the case but I missed it the first time so it's worth mentioning) or really anything you believe is worth mentioning. I do this to improve myself so feel free to be as harsh as you like.


	3. Chapter 3

The pain of overusing my circuits was something that I'd gotten more used to the more I did it. At least this time I hadn't lost feeling in my arm. Still probably shouldn't make a habit of passing out on top of Rin. I shrugged off the covers and suppressed a shiver as the cold air nipped on my bare chest, looks like she checked me for wounds before dragging me to the bed. Probably complained the entire time too. I didn't even try to the stop the smile from creeping up my face. I rolled out of bed and carefully walked to the closet.

I got dressed doing my best not to aggravate my aching body. It was a slow process but I wasn't in much of a hurry. I'd already missed morning classes and my throbbing nerves protested at the thought of running. It wasn't the only thing aching, stomach rumbled with hunger and my eyes wandered over to the fridge. I probably had a couple eggs left over. With breakfast in mind, I meandered to the fridge tugging the silver doors open. Where the eggs were previously sitting instead was a plastic wrapped plate containing a sandwich and a note. I grabbed the note quickly reading it.

"don't worry about school, just stay in bed and think about how to be less of an idiot." signed Rin.

My smile creped into a few inches higher as I unwrapped the sandwich. Rin was harsh but she meant well. I took a bite out of the sandwich. Not bad, a bit too much mayo. She was a decent cook, but you had to be growing up alone. Well, she had Kerei, but that's almost worse than being alone. The guy only made his specialty; Mapo Tofu hot enough to numb your mouth for a week. I couldn't stand the guy from the moment I met him, my distaste only grew when Rin talked about him. The bastard use to find two hungry dogs and make them fight for his tofu, the winner couldn't even eat the stuff. Kirei was a bastard on his best day. I finished off the sandwich, grimacing as my body protested even that simple moment. The pain brought my thought backs to last night. Ragnarok was an issue, they weren't nearly done with me. They'd come for me sooner or later but that was never something to worry about. They knew I was close to Rin. I don't know how they found out but they knew and they were willing to use it against me. Rin could easily handle any of the people I'd dealt with last night but that doesn't mean they wouldn't try anyway. I couldn't leave her unprotected. She might seriously hurt those guys.

I ignored protesting guts and grabbed my school bag.

* * *

"I can't believe this piece of crap" A voice rang out from the home ec room.

Thud !

I put my ear to the door.

A second, much calmer voice replied, "Kicking it isn't going to help"

"Do you have any better ideas!" The first voice said sounding more exasperated than angry.

"It came with a warranty right?" The second voice

"A warranty that expired four days ago!"

Another thud.

"Seriously? That's some luck." The second voice said.

A pause.

I leaned in closer putting my ear on the door. Still nothing. I slowly pumped mana into my ears, I heard a single step.

I recoiled back as the door slammed into my head.

"How was I supposed to know it would break- what the hell!"

I fell on my ass clutching my ringing ears.

"Were you eavesdropping on us! What the hell man!" I tried to block out the angry voice and forced the mana to dissipate

"Hey isn't that the guy?" The second voice questioned.

"The guy? Oh yea." I looked up, the angry voice had calmed considerably.

The second calmer voice helped me to my feet.

"Wouldn't want to piss off the Koryo Watchdog" he chuckled.

"Koryo what?" I'd gotten a lot of weird nicknames in the past, but it usually took a longer…..

"You didn't hear about it?" The second guy said.

I shook my head in response.

"After you dropped that thug it started going around," He answered

"Hate to interrupt the hero worship but why were you spying on us?" It was the bigger guy, who was apparently angry by default

"Hard not to hear when you're yelling. I thought you could use some help." He didn't look impressed.

"Unless you can fix an electric stove with a wrench and duck tape, I doubt it"

"You'd be surprised. I can talk a look at it, if I can't fix it, I can probably tell you what's wrong with it" I said.

"Whatever just don't burn down the school" He stuffed his hands in his pockets and trudged off muttering to himself.

"Sorry about him, he's just cranky. I better get going after him" He jogged away calling for his friend to slow down.

I watched them disappear around the corner and walked into the home economics room closing the door behind me. The scent of vanilla was poignant and I had to cover my nose just to keep from gagging on it. I took a second to double check the room. Doesn't matter how bad it smelled in here, magic must be kept secret. I quickly traced a dull steel sword and barred the door then walked over to the oven. I placed a hand on the steel door and readied my circuits.

"Trace On"

Magical blueprints unfolded in my mind, The history was tiny almost nothing there, the material was typical for the model and the shape was obvious even without magical assistance. I looked deeper, feeling for the flaws; typical wear and tear on the hinges, food littering the bottom of the central heating chamber, but wait right there. The real problem was the internal thermometer, it had a layer of crap on it. Nothing mechanically or electrically wrong with it but the thermometer was heating up slower than the stove so everything that went into it would either burn or not cook. Thankfully, it was nothing that couldn't be fixed with some iron wool and elbow grease. I looked around, stains dirtied almost every counter. The knives were nicked, and dust rested in every corner. I hadn't checked in with any of the teachers so if I missed a class or two no one would even know. I glanced towards the barred door. No one was getting in without me knowing either. With my course decided I got to work cleaning.

* * *

The constant pain had long since been relegated to background noise as I swept up the room. Pain was never an issue. Pain couldn't stop you, it could discourage but if pain was enough to stop you it wasn't worth doing in the first place. I emptied the dust pan and grabbed the sponge, the pain had mostly subsided into a dull ache. It would be gone altogether in a few hours but it was more than manageable right now. I scrubbed the countertop, trying to dislodge a particularly stubborn stain. A few more scraps and the brown smudge came free. Vindicated, I threw the sponge in the sink, it plopped against a dirty pan in preparation for its next job.

The knives were the biggest problem, the school didn't own a single sharpener, which meant I had to improvise. I looked at the knife, it was carbon steel, they owned it for five years. Iron alloy, 15 percent chromium. Nothing out of the ordinary there, I considered my options.

Sharpening knives was a simple process, I had to shave part of the edge to make it thinner and sharper. I felt a smile creep up my face as an idea slowly formed in my mind and my circuits burned to life.

A few minutes later

"Shirou! I know you're in there! I'm coming in!" The door rattled and the sword buckled slightly. I probably should have used a stronger sword.

I glanced down at the blade in my hand, it wouldn't be gone by the time she was through. I caught sight of an open cupboard in the corner of my eye I dived toward it and throw the sword inside. I slammed the door closed a moment before Rin threw open the one keeping her out. I did my best to look casual.

I don't think it worked, the moment she caught sight of me she made the face. The face that said, I don't know exactly what you're doing but it's stupid. The accusing glare really brought out her eyes.

"What. Are. You .Doing .Here." She spit each word like an accusing dagger.

"I'm just, umm lounging around" I rested my head on my arm, trying to look more comfortable than I was.

"You were supposed to stay home and rest."

"I, well, I was worried" I admitted sheepishly

"Worried about who? The other idiot coughing up blood?"

I shot to my feet, "What someone got injured?!" I didn't have any healing magic but Archer knew more than a little bit of field medicine.

"I'm talking about you Shirou!" She shouted in frustration. "You came home covered in blood then passed out on top of me." she leaned on the recently cleaned table and crossed her arms over her chest "What are you even doing in here?"

"Well the stove was broken so I offered to fix it up, but then I noticed how dirty the place was and decided to it cleaned up."

"You ignored serious injuries so you could clean up a club you're not even in?" She made it sound like a bad thing.

"I wouldn't say serious, They didn't even leave a scar besides I can barely feel it anymore."

"That's because they were internal!" She yelled, then paused to take a breath and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "That doesn't explain why you're here in the first place. Who were you worried about? Is this about last night?"

"Kinda, it's about this gang Ragnarok? Did you hear about them" I waited for her to nod before continuing "Well, they know we're together, and they already attacked me sooooo" I trailed off.

"Shirou, it's' sweet that you were worried but I'm honestly a little insulted that you think some high schoolers could hurt me."

I wasn't sure if she would be more pissed if I told her I was worried about what she would do to the gang instead of what they could try to do to her.

"Shirou I want you to stop getting involved with them. If you see them just leave, don't try to get involved or fight them. They aren't worth the time and you're just going to get people hurt."

I know she meant well, but she was wrong. She couldn't be anything but wrong. Just let them go? Don't help people? Maybe it was selfish but I couldn't let this go. I had a dream to fulfill, Archer showed me it was possible. He might have gone about it wrong but he proved it was possible. I owed it.

"I know that look. Shirou, whatever you're planning it's a bad idea." She signed "Don't you have anything better to do than mess around with kids?"

"I'm not messing around, these guys hurt people," I protested.

"It's a gang of high schoolers Shirou. Call the cops if it bothers you that much" She retorted, She uncrossed her arm and stabbed me in the chest with her finger "Shirou it's time to get a job. You never used to get caught in this crap when we were back in Fuyuki."

Well, she wasn't wrong. I was pretty busy with part time jobs back in the day but I didn't really go looking for them. It was usually just me spotting someone in trouble, helping out and volunteering to come back. Sometimes I got paid, usually, I did it for free. Now that I thought about it, maybe I could volunteer at the hospital. I might be able to pick up some first aid. That wouldn't be so bad, that kind of experience would definitely be helpful when I left, wait a second...

"Hey Rin how did you know where I was anyway?" I asked

She paused for moment "The bounded field I put on the apartment lets me know when anyone enters or leaves the house"

"I meant this room," I specified

"I put a crushed gem in your sandwich in case you did something stupid, shouldn't last more than a few more hours.." She said sounding almost bored.

"Rin! You can't just do that to people!" I said a little hurt she didn't trust me.

"You know, I thought the same thing then I remembered the time you tried to get between Gilgamesh and Berserker, the time you tackled Saber in the middle of her fight with Berserker oh and the time you fought a heroic spirit one on one and made Saber watch from the sidelines but you are right, I can't do it to regular people, just suicidal idiots I'm living with." She said without a moment's pause.

"I'm not suicidal.."I muttered, she wasn't being fair. I never went into a fight expecting to die. I went in knowing I had to save someone at any cost.

Something must have shown on my face because her face softened "Look, Shirou. I know you're not him but you need to start thinking before you act." She said soothingly. "Still it's a good thing I caught you so early, I told the school you would be out for a couple days."

"I wasn't that badly hurt" I protested, it felt worse then it was. I could barely even feel it anymore.

She shrugged "I'm glad to see your thick-headedness is finally getting some good use but get some rest, It took an hour to scrub the blood out of the carpet."

Ding ding

The school bell rang signaling the start of the next class.

" I'll head back home" I promised her and headed out keeping my head down to avoid notice by any wayward teachers.

* * *

I made it home without any issues. I made a casual sweep for anyone that might need help or a volunteer. I stopped by the hospital but they were full -

"if you're trying to get points for medical school you should have come in last year," I was a little disappointed but at least the hospital was well staffed. Not that it would help me in my job hunt. I did grab a newspaper from the lobby though and other then the article about Fuyuki school being shut down there was an odd ad with the tag line "Will teach martial arts for motorcycle repair" a phone number was attached below it. I was looking for some martial arts training and it would keep Rin from worrying about me.

I grabbed the phone from the hook and dialed the number.

Ring

Ring

Ring

"Give Apachai money and he will teach you how to kill!" a voice filled with almost childish joy yelled through the receiver before silence overtook it.

"Sorry about that" A new voice said "I keep telling him not to answer the phone like that but he never listens." whoever this was, he was much calmer than the last person.

"It's alright sir. I was just calling about this ad in the paper. You guys need a mechanic for a motorcycle?"

"Hmmm, Ah yes. I believe Sakaki mentioned something like that. Hold on I'll get him for you." A few moments later a gruff voice answered the phone

"Are you the guy who said he'd trade motorcycle maintenance for karate lessons?"

"Yes sir" I answered

"Well, whatever just show up when you're free and we can work out the details."

"How about 2 today?" I said shifting the phone to my shoulder and grabbing a notepad.

"Today? Yea sure." I quickly copied down the address he gave me

"Alright, sir I'll be there at 2."

"Sure see you then" I had a few hours before the appointment. The house was mostly clean. It was way too early to start dinner and it had been awhile seen I used Structural Analysis and my circuits had mostly recovered. The pain was hardly an issue after the years of shoving a hot metal rod down my spine, as long as I didn't do anything beyond projection I wouldn't even be breaking my promise to Rin. I locked the front door and made some space on the floor.

Trace on

The mana warmed my body as I walked through the world of blades. It had taken a few months but going to the blade works had become easy. It took less mana than even Reinforcement, it was just too bad that summoning the blade works to me was so taxing. I guess it was the difference between believing something myself and making the world believe it as well. I walked the brownfield my hand resting on a nameless blade. My thoughts drifted for a moment before finally lingering on the newest addition to the blade works. Going towards an object in the blade works was a simple affair, I could walk for hours without ever finding anything if I wasn't looking something but if I looked for something it was never more than a few feet away. I pulled twin swords free from the hill and into the world.

I opened my eyes, grasping the blades lightly. They were masterfully crafted, when properly traced they were stronger than any modern steel but its history was what I needed most or the lack thereof. There was no influence in my style when I fought with these swords. Not that it was always a good thing, even when I had been leaching from Archer he was tearing me apart. I had a long way to go. I shifted Kanshou into my lap and focused on Bukuya. I opened up a pathway from my hand to the blade and slowly poured mana into it, I focused on the size and slowly refined the concept. The edge crept forward, I had to be careful, too much mana and the blade would become indistinguishable from the plan and it would lose its anchor to the world. I plucked the blade from my lap and compared it side by side with its twin. I traced the edge with my eye; the reinforced blade was rougher on the edge probably deformed from the mana. I hadn't pushed it too far but even a small deviation from the original would hurt the durability. I took each blade hand in hand and compared them. The weight hadn't changed despite the size difference, the history was the same but the altered one was faded. The story was the same but they didn't ring as clear, if I tried this with monohoshizao I'd probably lose a good portion of Assassin's skills.

I dropped the blades and left them to fade into ether. I had to clean up before Rin got home.

"You're going to make things worse. You need to stop getting involved."

I'd pushed the words out of my mind but I couldn't forget them. She was wrong, I couldn't just let them go even if they were kids. If I just proved her wrong here then, she wouldn't have to worry when I left clocktower…

Well that being said I had no idea how to go about dealing with them. I know of one hangout, but after last night's performance, I doubt they'll be many people sticking around.

The first step was information. I need to find someone and work my way up the food chain. I could start planning from there. With the basics sorted out I turned my attention to lunch. Fish? I think we have some leftovers from the other night. I walked into the kitchen and lost myself in the work.

* * *

I stared up at the gate, massive was an understatement. It was easily two stories tall. It had a different feeling than the dull concrete of the modern world. I placed a hand on the gate and felt the thrum of energy. The place felt alive. I could understand that without stepping inside. I glanced at the letter and checked the address. This was definitely the right place. I knocked on the gate, even the short contact with my knuckles left me feeling jittery. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. I clamped down on the nervousness and got ready, I pulled the blueprints of a nameless sword and went over the mold in my mind. I couldn't begin tracing till I needed the blade but it was always faster to have the one I wanted in mind before combat. A few moments later the gate lazily swung open. I was left staring at a short man dressed almost entirely in green he felt different. Not inhuman like the servants from the grail war, it was almost the opposite. He felt almost too human, like the rest of the world was dimmer in comparison.

"It's not polite to stare"

I almost jumped out of my skin. He sounded normal, a slight accent I couldn't place but otherwise, he sounded like anyone else.

"If you just came here to gawk I'm closing the door" He turned away the door closing behind.

"Wait!" I yelled "Sorry, I spaced out. I'm a mechanic. Mr. Sakaki made an appointment." I put my tool box in between the closing doors.

"I see, Sakaki did mention something about that didn't he." He held the door open for me, I thanked him and slipped through. I turned to face him but he was gone. I scanned the courtyard, we were at least twenty meters from any of the buildings. Could he teleport? I patted the ground near the gate where he stood. Solid, no trap doors or tunnels.

"Hey, Kid!" I stood up "Are you the mechanic?" This guy was big, not just tall but built. His entire body was bulging with muscle. A brown bottle hung from has hand loosely. Much like the last guy, I could feel something from him as well, it wasn't a quiet dim of the green one, his was a low roar that seemed to drown out everything around him but the same as the last man I couldn't think of him as inhuman. His cocky grin morphed into a more quizzical one .

"Do I have something on my face?" No accent this time, seems he was native.

"Umm, no sorry. I just spaced out again." I had a feeling this would be coming up a lot.

"Kenasi did say you were pretty spacy. You going to be okay to work on my bike pipsqueak?"

"Yes sir, I'll be fine." He paused for a second looking me up and down, before shrugging and starting off towards a shed.

"Are you just going to stand around all day, I'm not paying you to space out." he called over his shoulder.

I ignored his barb and followed after him. My feet clicked softly on the stone path. Despite the difference in size between us the stones, didn't so much as twitch when he stepped on them. He glided across the rocky path like a ghost, a really big, buff ghost.

A flicker of light drew my attention. Leaves danced down pushed and pulled by an invisible breeze obscuring the flicker.

A moment passed as a leaf with a smiley face neatly cut out drifted by my head.

The sword slid silently back into its sheath. and what a sword it was. It wasn't the sharpest or the biggest, it wasn't even magical. But it was unique, I thought I had seen every forging technique known to man. Apparently, I was mistaken. This was something different, swords had three components; The shape, the material, and the history but here the material and the history were almost indistinguishable. My head started to ache just looking at it.

"Are you spacing out- oh I see." I turned my attention from the sword to his shit eating grin. "Spying on Shigure ay." he chuckled "She's almost as big an air head as you." I looked back over but the sword and the supposed girl were gone. I turned back to the man.

"Hey don't look at me like that she was right there! You were staring at her a second ago." He protested pointing toward the tree.

"If you say so, I was more focused on the sword."

He just shook his head muttering something about kids, he turned away from the tree and started back down the rocky path. I shoved the blueprints deep into the blade works and followed him. I would have plenty of time to look them over later. I had a job to do after all.

He paused in front of the garage and tugged the gate free of its housing sending the dull metal hissing up. I peered into the dark room but without much luck. Sakaki briskly walked into the garage, the darkness apparently a non-issue. A moment later the light flickered on. Revealing a mountain of cluster surrounding his motorcycle.

"Here she is, A 93 Softail, damn thing stalls more than you space out" He chuckled.

I navigated through the rubble hopping from clean spot to spot until I reached the bike. I gave the thing a quick once over, nothing jumped out at me but a small application of magic would reveal any hiccups. Now I just needed some privacy. I glanced over to the shirtless man who was content to lean on the wall.

"I'm going to need a bit of privacy if you want the best result," I said. It wasn't a lie.

He shrugged "Sure, I'll be in the main house. Try not to get lost" he pushed off the wall with one final chuckle before meandering off.

I waited a moment until he was out of sight and then turned back to the bike. I placed a solitary hand on the engine.

Trace On

The mana ran through my arm as the blueprints slowly unfolded in my mind.

The gears were stripped, not badly but enough to make starting a questionable affair at best. The tires were worn but they could go another month before being replaced. The battery wasn't much better than the gears, it would last awhile more but it was on its last legs.

Hmmm, I could tighten up some of the loose bits but a lot of things were just too old and worn for a patch job.

I pulled a pad and paper out of my tool box, jotted down some notes and let the schematic fade into obscurity. Nothing to do now but report back to chuckles. I slowly toed out of the garage managing to only knock over a couple bits of junk on my way out.

The feeling was still strong but now that I was alone it had toned down considerably. Maybe the people were affecting the buildings.

I looked around. There were three buildings ignoring the garage. A two story building with ornate roofing and a passageway to another building that laid along the edge of the forest and finally a long one story building.

I took off towards the first one, I crossed the grass careful not to trip on any of the small wooden poles littering the grass. I kept an eye on the ground wary of any hazards until something strange caught my eye.

A lone mouse with a pink bow tied to the base of its tail was doing a handstand on one of the thin stumps, Or maybe I was just going crazy.

The mouse apparently noticing my stare simply flipped back onto its hind legs and scampered off toward the porch. I quickly reinforced my eyes to keep track of it. I watched with disbelief as it scaled one of the wooden supports and hopped onto the roof and jumped onto the head of a young women, who had apparently taken a liking to the roof as well? I met her eyes but quickly changed my focus to the sword. It was the same sword I'd seen back then. She must have been the girl Sakaki had mentioned.

"Is there any particular reason you're on the roof?" I called up to her.

She paused a moment before speaking.

"...It's comfortable:" She said quietly, content with her answer.

"Alright. Uhm is there anything I can help you with?" unsure of how to proceed.

Another pause

"...what were you doing," she said just as quietly. Before retreating back into inactivity. She was so still I never would have noticed her without the mouse pointing her out.

"I was working on Mr. Sakaki's bike," I answered plainly.

"...No...Before that…. when you were looking at ….my sword." She said slowly considering each word carefully.

I choose my next words very carefully. "I like swords and, even an amateur can tell yours is exceptional" If she wasn't a magus then I couldn't tell her about magic and if she was a magus I couldn't tell her about my magic. Dad had pounded that former into my head and Rin made sure to remind me of the latter constantly. The magic association would do more then cover it up if they found out someone was spreading magic around.

"...Are you a martial artist?" she asked. The mouse had moved from her head, jumping down her collar and into the pink jacket(?) The roof had concealed most of her face leaving only her eyes and a sprout of black hair. With my reinforced eyes I could see every twitch in the small bit of her expression available to me but she either didn't react or had an incredible poker face.

"Not really, my dad taught me some self-defense but I've never had any formal training," I answered truthfully. Most of Kiritsugu's lessons involved him beating on me for an hour and me vainly attempting to defend myself, I kept that part to myself. I didn't mind the training but a lot of people took issue with a grown man fighting children.

"...Okay" with that last word she slowly crawled out of sigh, maybe she was a graduate from my school, she'd fit in with the rest of the weirdos. From my admittedly incomplete picture, she didn't look that much older than me. Hmm. Oh well, doesn't matter that much, she seemed content with my answer. Still, I'd have to be careful not to expose any more of my magic. Back to finding Sakaki.

I sighed and continued towards the building she was perched on. I stepped onto the wood porch taking a moment to admire the traditional decor. I hadn't been home for a while and the building was making me a bit nostalgic.

I pulled the paper door open, and my thoughts of home came screeching to a stop. In the center of the empty room, A muscular man was strapped into what I could only assume was a torture device. His limbs were strapped to thick bars of lumber, the machine creaking slightly as the machine pulled his torso closer to the ground and his legs farther apart. Not that it seemed to bother him, he mumbled to himself either unaware or uncaring of my entrance. I knocked on the door to draw his attention.

"Hmm?" The man looked up from the floor catching my eyes.

"Uh, Hi. I'm the mechanic and I'm looking for Mr. Sakaki. He said he was in the main house but I'm not sure which one that it" I said politely, keeping my eyes fixed on his so I didn't stare at his odd predicament.

"A mechanic huh? Ah, yes we talked on the phone." He collapsed to the floor his legs splaying outwards into a perfect split before untangling himself from the machine with a grace that seemed impossible to attribute to the task.

He pulled his gi back around his shoulders from where it lay around his waist and stood up. "I'll show you the way." He said and walked past me.

I quickly followed behind him as he walked towards the two story building. I was almost out of the woods.

The man walked into the house, swiftly pulling the door shut behind me as I walked in after him. He pointed towards yet another paper door. "Sakaki is probably drinking on the porch."

I thanked him and left the man stroking his mustache. I pushed the door open and just as he said the shirtless man was lying on the ground, munching on some peanuts and sipping from a brown bottle.

"Excuse me, I finished the inspection on your bike and I just wanted to show you the estimate."

"Huh? Oh right, Alright let's hear it" he set the bottle on the ground and sat up, crossing his legs underneath him.

I dug out the list of parts and handed it to the sitting man, " I did what I could but a couple of parts are going to need replacing. I should have them within a week or two depending on my supplier then I'll be back to install them for you."

He looked over the list nodding as he did so. He handed back the paper "You work fast, kid alright I guess we should talk about payment then" I nodded.

"Truthfully, when I called in that ad I was more than a little drunk and I didn't actually think anyone would take me up on the offer either." he stopped to take another drink "That's not to say I won't pay up. Let's say three months of training and we call it square." He held out his hand,

I checked over my estimates. That'd add up to about around the same price of the parts, maybe a little more if I used the discount Raiga's supplier gave me.

I nodded and took his hand

He grinned "Don't come crying to me if you want to quit"

I returned his smile "Don't worry about me Sir"

With my business concluded I walked back out and started towards the exit doing my best to ignore the mouse sunbathing on one of the surrounding walls. I pushed through the gate.

I sighed and started towards my home, a little home maintenance always calmed my nerves.

* * *

I scraped at the dirt with the yellow sponge, the crumbs were more stubborn than usual or maybe I was just distracted by Rin's occasionally grunt from the background. She never missed a workout. I tried getting her to run with me but I had better luck fighting Lancer then I had of getting her out of bed. The run wasn't happening but we did manage to work up a sweat sparing. She proved more than capable against Caster, and it showed in our matches. I scratched at a fist sized bruise. Keri had apparently done more than harass innocent churchgoers, he'd also been a passable teacher for some kind of Chinese martial art that'd he taken great pleasure in beating into Rin. She tried to teach it to me but I just didn't' have a talent for it. I was fighting myself the entire time and I just wasn't loose enough to follow the movements, according to her at least. So, we defaulted to simple sparing without the use of magic, I couldn't pull off any of the high skill movements but I had a hard head and high tolerance for pain so it evened out. 'Even' in that she would beat the snot out of me until she got tired and I could keep track of her. Maybe these new martial arts lesson would change that.

"I'm going to take a shower. What time is dinner?" Rin asked apparently done with her work out.

I glanced at the timer "half hour or so" Just enough time to steam some green beans. A small voice in my head had told me to put off telling her about my new job but good food had a way of making even bad news sound better.

"Thanks Shirou, You'll make a great house wife someday" She joked before walking off towards the bathroom.

I filled the pot with water and left it to boil on its own before walking off. Watched pots and all that. I set the card table out and grabbed a few folding chairs. I missed the table from my old home but I doubt it would fit through the door much less in the small space we called the living room. Without much else to do I sat down and waited for the water to boil.

With nothing else do my thoughts drifted to Ragnarock. They were still an issue I had to solve. The only question was how. That Loki guy was a good start, I just needed to find him. I tried thinking about what Archer would do but his memories were shaky, they weren't a library I could browse like the Blade Works. It was like trying to remember something you did 40 years ago at work, the big stuff was there if something reminded you of it but the details were blurry. The only thing that popped up when I tried to remember Archer was the execution. The wooden plank, the jeering crowd and the coarse rope around my neck - nope. That was enough of that, I still got antsy when something was round my neck and this was not helping me get over it.

I needed to focus on what's important; Ragnarok and I couldn't deal with them until I had more information.

The timer pulled me from my thoughts. The chicken was done, and the beans weren't too far behind. Everything seemed to be coming together, I pulled off my apron and delivered the food to the table.

Rin followed her nose out of the shower dressed in her pajamas after I set the food out. She collapsed into the chair and started digging in, I followed suit before stopping with a frown. I should have used more lemon. Now or never

"Hey Rin" She looked up from her meal "I managed to get a job" The sparkle in her eyes, put butterflies in my stomach.

"Seriously? That was fast Shirou, how much are you getting paid!?" She said the sparkle looking more manic by the minute "You have no idea how expensive those gems are. I can't just use the cheap stuff you know and-"

" I'm not getting paid any money" She froze.

"What do you mean you're not getting any money?" Rin yelled almost leaping across the table. "There's a difference between a job and volunteering dummy!"

"Wait Rin! I'm getting paid in karate lessons!" This was apparently the wrong answer, as her face melted from surprise to complete disbelief.

"Shirou, are you nine? What kind of deal is that! How are you paying for parts! Did you think this through at all? Dummy, Idiot fool!" She yelled abuse across the table as I tried to keep it from tipping and sending the food spilling across the floor.

Despite her vitriol, I couldn't hold in a smile.

_Line brake

The rest of the night passed without further excitement.

Slipping out of the house unnoticed was a simple task, Rin slept like a log in a different room, and if I left the window open I could get in and out without any criking. I just had to get home before she woke up, not hard considering her morning habit of wishing her alarm clock death for ten minutes before giving up and flopping out. It was nice seeing her like that, she spent so much time keeping up appearance it was nice seeing her so flustered.

I pushed her out of my head. I couldn't afford any screw ups. I was being too open with my magic. If that swordswoman noticed me using structural analyzes on her sword then who knows what people will notice me using. I had to pick my targets carefully, I had to do this without getting banged up and without reinforcing myself. Which was working fantastically so far. I'd been wandering the streets for the better part of an hour and I hadn't found anything. Turns out roaming through the city at 2 am was not a good way to find people. My feet carried me toward the dinner that the puzzle guy tried blackmail in. I wasn't really expecting anyone to be there but it was the closest thing I had to a lead. I pressed my face up to the glass and stared at the empty building. They'd been busy cleaning up after my run in with Ragnarok, the smashed tables had been pulled from the ground and yellow signs were standing in their place. I walked back down. Well, that was one down I had just enough time to check out the abandoned building where I'd taken Thor on before I had to head back. If I hurried and cut through a couple alleyways I'd be able to get a couple hours of sleep on top of that. With the promise of four full hours, I hurried into the nearby alley and straight into the knife of a waiting mugger.

"Drop your wallet and cell phone right now," he spoke with a slight quiver. He brandished the dull blade with a shaky hand but his knuckles were white with strain.

I didn't' bother responding, I simply stepped into his reach and tugged the armed hand sharply. He stumbled apparently unaccustomed to his victims fighting back. I grabbed his neck and slammed his head into the gray cement of the wall the stepped back quickly. He clutched his presumably aching head and trickled down the wall as I plucked the fallen knife from the ground. It was cheap crap but it was more than enough to scare salarymen out of their earnings. I leaned over his prone form the knife hanging in my hand loosely. While I waited for him to shake off the pain.

"What do you know about Ragnarok?" I asked him, I wasn't expecting much but on the off chance, he knew something it was better to ask.

"Ra...Ragnarok?..." he blinked a few times to shake off the dizziness "Ragnarok?" he replied immediately. "Ah shit, that's just my goddamn luck. uh, Sir, I'm sorry if I knew you were with Ragnarok I wouldn't have even dreamed of this" He sputtered out.

"I'm not with them. I'm looking for them." I said with a sigh "Do you know anything about them. Where I can find them things like that."

"Why the hell would you want to go looking for those psychos?" he said confusion settling on his face

I pulled the knife into his line of sight "Does it really matter?" He drew back from the steel his eyes fixed on the point of the blade.

"S-sorry, look I don't know anything other then they beat up some my buddies because of some bullshit. I make it my business not to be around that type of crazy."

I wasn't expecting much anyway. Still I had one more question; what do I do with him? Archer would kill him. Deal with him now and he never bothers people again, turning him into the police just puts him with more criminals for a few years and then he's back to doing this a few months later.

I looked at the knife in my hand then very carefully placed it between my shoe and the pavement then pulled until the sharp crack told me it would be useless from now. I wasn't him, I wouldn't do things like him. I looked back up at the man who threatened to stab me a few minutes before and asked him a simple question.

"Can I buy you a burger?"

* * *

I walked home with 2 burgers and a gut full of disappointed. The man hadn't been keen on coming with me but he was even less keen on me dragging him to the cops. I pulled him into the first fast food place I found and ordered us some food. He didn't even bother eating before walking into the bathroom and disappearing out a window. I waited an hour in case he came back but after two hours I gave up hope. I started towards the horizon, I wouldn't make it back in time to get any decent amount of sleep but maybe it was better that way. I had a feeling I'd just end up seeing Archer's stupid smug face. I made it to the house an hour before sunrise. I slipped through the open window and into bed passing out shortly after.

* * *

Authors Note

Thanks for reading, as mentioned before I'm doing this to improve myself and I do have a pretty thick skin so don't hold back on any criticism if it strikes your fancy.

Sorry about the wait and if you're worried about this being abandoned; don't. No matter how long it takes rest assured I will finish it. Anyone can start something, I plan on seeing this to the end no matter how many stupid ideas I thought were good at first and now have to stick with to maintain consistency.

Ideas such as

Swapping to third person when Shirou uses a weapon

This was originally supposed to show he wasn't the one in control but it just makes things confusing in hind sight

inconsistent Archer memories.

I'm going with the events are hazy even to Archer and Shirou got more combat oriented stuff because Archer was attempting to murder him

Those are the ones that stick out to me.

But I did learn some new things

Plan out your plot before you write

Don't use frivolous adjectives(Still working on this)

Have fun and write something you would like to read

If you can't think of anything go for a run, that'll usually help you think of something.


End file.
